Monday, May 10, 2010

Serious Weight: Dealer Sentenced for Moving 8.5 Tons of Pot Over 5 Years

17,000 pounds or 7,711 kilograms or 103 Michael Phelpses or 38,555 copies of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon or 453,592 Twinkies or 131,949 White Castle Sliders.

That's how much mary jane an East St. Louis drug dealer moved over five years, from 2002 to 2007.
The Belleville News-Democrat reports Ivory Manuel, 42, of East St. Louis was sentenced on Friday to eleven years in prison for moving the dope, which has a "street value" of more than $25 million.
Manuel pleaded guilty to an indictment "charging him with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute marijuana" back October 27 (view U.S. Attorney's Office press release here.)

Randy G. Massey of the Southern Illinois U.S. Attorney's Office says Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, an arm of the Department of Justice, oversaw the investigation and in Manuel's case, the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Marshals Service conducted the investigation.